£9m Sheffield e-bike hire scheme to launch next year in new People's Network brand
A £9m Sheffield e-bike hire service to get people out of their cars has been put back a year.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said the 900-bike scheme was due to launch in 2027.
It will come under the South Yorkshire People’s Network transport brand launched today and set to include trams and buses.
The name is a nod to the ‘People’s Republic of South Yorkshire’ era in the 1980s when public transport was very cheap and popular.
Colours of molten orange, grey and asphalt black “speak to the region’s history of industry, Northern grit, and resilience.”
Last month, Shefifeld City Council said it was working on a new timetable for the e-bike project after a launch date of April was dropped.
A tender document said e-bikes had been chosen ‘to suit Sheffield's hilly topography’.
The e-bike hire scheme was first mentioned in the City Centre Access and Movement Plan, published in summer, which looks at plans for transport in the city centre over the next 15 years.
It states the aim is to cut city centre traffic by up to a fifth, to make streets ‘more people friendly and prosperous’.
In September, the city council revealed it had spent more than £27m on cycling infrastructure in the last two years.